JASMINE.SIU@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 06 January, 2016, 7:00am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 06 January, 2016, 7:00am
More evidence emerges about the tainted water scandal during inquiry hearings. Photo: Sam Tsang
Documents revealed that a plumbing subcontractor’s deliveries may have been forged to cover up orders of lead solder, the tainted water inquiry heard yesterday.
The suggestion emerged as subcontractor Golden Day Engineering’s managing director, Cheung Tat-yam, revealed that .one of his employees involved in procurement, Lam Lai-king, told him she forged delivery notes that were sent to main contractor Paul Y General Contractors.
These documents showed four deliveries of lead-free solder were made by supplier Prosperity Building Materials to Golden Day for a Paul Y project between June 2012 and March 2013.
They were almost identical to invoices presented by Prosperity, except in identification and the presence of lead in the solder.
For instance, a delivery note dated November 12, 2012 and labelled DN98079 showed an order for 50 cans of flux and 60 rolls of solder wire, while an invoice from the same day, labelled IV98079, showed the same order for flux plus 275 pounds of solder sticks containing 50 per cent lead.
Cheung said he was surprised and immediately suspected some documents might have been forged. But he did not think it was Prosperity’s doing because the supplier was better at record keeping.
His solicitor’s letter to Paul Y, dated December 9 last year, read: “Following an investigation carried out by our clients, our clients have reasons to question the genesis of the purported delivery notes.”
The letter went on to say that Cheung did not accept the delivery notes as genuine documents, since he did not know how they came about nor could he verify their authenticity.
Cheung testified: “I asked [Lam] did you do this. Two days later, she said it was her.”
“Did you suspect her, or someone else in the company, of actually receiving lead solder and wanting to cover up?” asked Richard Khaw, counsel for the commission inquiry..
Cheung replied he never thought about it this way and said she did not explain herself. “I think she was afraid,” he said, adding he was told that all four delivery notes had been destroyed.
Records kept by Prosperity show lead solder was supplied to all three public housing estates where Golden Day was subcontracted to install water pipes for Paul Y and China State Construction Engineering. All three estates were later found to have lead-tainted drinking water.
The plumber, whose licence was revoked after the scandal broke in July last year, said he was aware that only lead-free solder could be used in fresh water pipe systems.
But he also testified that he did know that lead solder existed.
“I cannot be certain of the reasons causing leaded plumbing solder to be used in the three affected estates,” Cheung’s statement said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1898226/plumbing-deliveries-may-have-been-forged-hong-kong
